The present application relates to software and more specifically to user interfaces and accompanying methods that facilitate user voice interaction with software.
Voice enabled software is employed in various demanding applications, including voice activated call center software for handling telephonic customer service requests, foreign language translation software, speech-to-text translators, and general voice-enabled software, such as Siri®. Such applications often demand user friendly interfaces that enable efficient user access to data and software functionality.
Efficient mechanisms for navigating potentially complex software architectures are particularly important in enterprise applications, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications, where rapid performance of software actions and data input/output operations can be particularly important, such as when a customer is waiting on hold.
In an example enterprise CRM call center application, incoming telephone calls are routed based on spoken responses to software-generated prompts. The underlying software may employ generic menus, whereby users select different options by speaking their selections. The software may then generate predetermined spoken responses based on the provided input, and then route the call accordingly. However, such systems often lack efficient mechanisms for leveraging available information to further customize responses, enhance user experience, and enable efficient task completion.
Other voice-enabled systems, such as Siri®, are often device-focused, where user interactions may be confined to predetermined software actions based on generically available device information. Furthermore, with such systems, users must often perform several interactions to complete complex tasks. Often, the software applications must be exited and reactivated to complete different parts of a complex or multi-step task, which can be time consuming.
In general, the enterprise applications often lack efficient voice-enabled software applications and accompanying systems and user interface architectures that enable rapid completion of complex tasks involving software navigation, data access, data input, and/or other software actions.